Absence Of Female Identity In John Donne’s Love Poems

John Donne is the representative of the metaphysical poets in the seventeenth century inBritain. His Songs and Sonets, as the masterpiece, includes many love poems which are exotic.His other works such as Elegies, Verse Letters and Divine Poems also gather some love poemsconcerned with the relationship between men and women. The research on him can be tracedback to a long time to his generation, and reaches the climax in the20th century in thewestern countries. As for its progress in China, most of his works have been translated intoChinese in different versions and many critics look into his works under the guidance ofdifferent literary theories, of which feminism occupies an important area.After careful analysis of his poems, the author of this thesis found the themes reflected inDonne’s love poems were varied and complex, mainly due to his conflicting experience in lifeand in religion. This thesis tries to study the phenomenon of absence of female identityreflected in Donne’s love poems. Chapter One explores Donne’s absence of female voiceexpressed in his poems from two angles, that is the passive listening and reticence of thefemale. Chapter Two explores the absence of balanced relationship expressed in his works byillustrating the marital status of women at his time and discussing about the unbalancedrelationship. Chapter Three probes into Donne’s outlook on women’s social position byclassifying several typical stereotypes of women in his works and analyzing his biasedattitude and criticism towards women.By applying the theory of feminism, this thesis tries to come a conclusion that there existabsence of female identity in his works which is closely related with his personal experienceand social background of his age.